New Exford
New Exford is the coldest planet in the system. It is winter all year long, and there's only one body of water that never freezes. History Extremely little is known about New Exford's history. It is believed that New Exford was once a warmer planet, and got knocked out of its normal orbit around its star from some unknown gravitational force. But it still nevertheless orbited that same star, just much farther away, and thus completely froze over. But this is all just a theory. Seismic scans performed deep underground suggest that the ice is a mere cover of the planet. Seismic readings show there are very large, empty, even spaces underneath some of the ice shelfs, large enough to hold a capital ship. Some are even more than twenty kilometers wide. The puzzling fact is that they are so even, as if created by the most careful ice sculptor. Tunnels were also found, connecting most of the caves. The largest of the spaces is located just below Atreus City, in the Ratel Canyon. There appear to be very strange anomalies under the icy ground. In 3579, a team of four scientists drilled a hole into the ground and explored the depths below Ratel. They never came back, nor did anyone find any holes in the ground or the large drilling platform the scientists brought with them. Sometime in the year of 2879, a small group of Ilets colonized New Exford. In 2892, a much larger group of Teroare followed, and a few decades later, Chromakan. The three species built cities across the planet, centralizing around Atreus and the Trinity Mountains. Because of the huge amounts of resources found in the Trinities, the planet became home to many weapons and spaceship facilities. Geography New Exford is always covered in ice and snow. There are no less than seven major mountain ranges across the planet, the largest stretching from the south pole up so far as to just 8000 miles from the north pole. This range has been dubbed the Trinity Mountains, and just like all the other ranges, has a large amount of Rithsinium crystals, which are very valuable but very dangerous to mine. New Exford has the second largest exports in Rithsinium, second to Weavon. The average Exfordian day is 30 hours. The Caliban Ocean is the only body of water that never freezes. It takes up about a fifth of the planet and is dotted with tens of thousands of deep oil drilling platforms. The Caliban never freezes because of only one reason: its waters are fast and turbulent. Anyone who falls off a boat or drilling platform faces almost certain death, either from the cold or from drowning. The Caliban is about ten miles deep, while the deepest oceanic area on Earth isn't even eight miles deep. What isn't covered by oceans and mountains is mostly occupied by deep canyons. These stretch several miles down, and can't be climbed without the proper equipment. The slick icy walls could easily make someone plunge to their death. Cities are often built over these, stretching from one side of the canyon to the other. The majority of the Exforidan population resides in Atreus City, the ultramodern capital of New Exford. It has over three billion inhabitants, which is about 65% of all sentient beings on the planet. Atreus is not only the capital of a planet, it's also the ship-building capital of the known universe. Whole military fleets could be made in just a few days time, assuming all manufacturing companies pitched in at once and had all the resources needed on-hand. Atreus is also an important stop for trade ships, for many very valuable and rare crystals are mined from Exford's various mountain ranges and canyons as well as delivered from various Weavon ports. The famous RAVEN Corps Headquarters is located here. Much like Sigma, there is an upper and a lower Atreus. However, upper Atreus is usually only for manufacturing facilities and trade ports. The population lives in lower Atreus, meaning anything that isn't the sky-high ports. But there's also the 'basement' of Atreus, its formal name being the Ratel Canyon. This north-south canyon cuts Atreus in half, and if you swerve off a bridge you will immediately plummet more than four thousand feet. Basically, once you're off the road, you're gone. You're dead, and your body will never be recovered. It'll be frozen in time in the subzero temperatures. Because of this, durable steel walls have been put up along the bridge connecting East and West Atreus. Northwest Atreus generally has the richest residents, while the Northern, Western, and Southwest areas have moderately rich and middle class citizens. The Eastern area of the city has mostly poorer communities, while the Southeastern area is very poor and is home to many gangs fighting for control of the area. Policing forces mostly stay out of these turf wars in fear of death. Southeast Atreus is also known as Derelict Row, named after the lack of technology the area possesses because nobody there has the money to buy things from the most recent decades. The canyon floor is a gigantic slab of pure ice, which may actually be a completely frozen river, leading many to believe that the canyon actually cuts deeper than one may think. What lies underneath the canyon floor is currently a mystery. Many people are willing to risk their lives to find out. No one's come back alive. There's a conspiracy theory saying the Albion government kills anyone that explores under Ratel to keep secret technology, well, secret. This, however, is false..... yet Albion has announced all mining in the Ratel Canyon is illegal and criminals who try to drill into the canyon will be met with lethal force. Tathis is the second largest city on the planet, though it's not even one tenth the size of Atreus. It is made up of a bunch of platforms extending out of the northwestern Trinity Mountains. Tathis is home to one of the most ruthless prisons in the galaxy, but its true purpose is mining the valuable crystals inside the Trinities. Much of New Exford is a vast expanse of complete nothingness, except for fields of snow and ice. Of course, roads have been constructed to connect cities all over the world. But these aren't regular roads. These roads are built with a special material that never ices over at natural temperatures. This material also optimizes maximum speed for tires. And to make sure drivers down fly off into nowhere at a turn due to their high speeds, the turns are very wide and the outward edges of the turns actually lift up into the air when special sensors detect an incoming vehicle. This tilts the road, allowing the car to easily drift through the turn and back down onto straight road. Empty expanses of nothing are often actually trade routes, used by large near-supersonic hover-barges to transport materials from one area to another. Because of this, and underground mining facilities, very little of Exford is actually unused. Weather is not as simple as one may think. Many people believe all the weather on Exford is snow. Naturally, yes. But over the centuries New Exford has evolved into a planet overflowing with activity. Cities have sprawled out over the landscape, with power-hungry residentials near the ground and giant factories up above. This all releases massive amounts of heat into the atmosphere, which in turn heats up the clouds above. This allows for any range of weather, depending on how many factories worked for however many hours a couple days ago. Rain, sleet, freezing rain, hail, and snow are all possible. Inhabitants Sentients *Ilets *Teroare (Majority) *Chromakans *Xti Non-sentients *Uh... Beasts *Jinouga *Xiaora Law The law of New Exford is controlled largely by the country of Albion, which is a very close ally of UWUC, but is only present on New Exford. The rest of law control comes from the Hunter's Trade Union or actual police forces. The HTU has literally taken over some towns, but none of them being major cities. Albion has forced all other Exfordian countries to adopt former UWUC's stand on law with these five offenses punishable by death: *Murder *Theft *Destruction *Extortion *Rebellion If any of these laws are broken, the usual form of punishment is death or being sent to Tathis Detention Center, the largest and most cruel prison in the Jexian Galaxy. If death is chosen, the lawbreaker will be tortured for whatever amount of time desired. If sent to the TDC, every hour will be like a day in hell. Unlike Sigma, New Exford has seperate countries. Albion, Falsetto, Roche, and Naranjo are generally considered "Upper Exford," while Vinton, Abruquah, and Kirin are referred to as "Lower Exford" despite Vinton not being a poor country, as "Lower Exford" implies. Albion and Falsetto enforce the probition of alcoholic beverages. 'Albion' : A huge country that takes up 60% of the planet, covering large portions of the icy plains, mounatins, and 84% of all the direct access to the Caliban Ocean (this not including large rivers). For reference, Albion is larger than ten Russias combined and is roughly circular in shape. Tathis, Atreus, and all other Exfordian major cities, excluding six, are here. Albion is a majorly industrialized country with a high tier of technology. Albion is divided into twelve different sectors, each with three delegates wh o control the sector. Combined with these 36 Führers is one main leader, called an Arrajeit, who lives in a large presidential building in Atreus. Albion is known to have a very large and powerful army, armada (sea and space), and air force. It has more connections with RAVEN Corps than any other nation or faction. Albion is also extremely major in the economic markets, for it's the largest supplier and exporter of metals, weapons, vehicles, and other valuables due to its near complete control of the Trinity Mountains and the mines inside it. The twelve provinces within Albion are referred to simply as District/Sector 1, District/Sector 2, and so on and so forth. Some districts are more wealthy than others, and size varies. District 12 is the largest while District 9 is by far the smallest. The Arrajeit is a Teroare named Vince Adler, who is currently serving his sixth term as the big cheese. Atreus, which holds the RAVEN Headquarters as well as the Exfordian Capital Building, is located in District 12. District Twelve is located roughly in the center of Albion, bordered by District 1 to the north, Three to the east, Four to the southeast, and by District 5 to the south and west. District 2 dominates all territory to the north of District 1 and also borders Roche. In a clockwise motion, District 2 borders Six, which borders Naranjo and District Seven, which borders Eleven, which borders Vinton and Nine, which borders Eight and Abruquah, which borders Kirin and Ten, which borders Falsetto. : RAVEN Corps has its headquarters housed in Atreus, the capital city of Albion. Albion has a defense contact with RAVEN, which develops many of the country's weapons. RAVEN doesn't restrict any selling to Albion, even for its newest designs. Some sales to Albion and Falsetto are also discounted by 10%. In return, RAVEN is able to operate freely throughout Albion, which has restricted many of the empty plains of ice from the public for the sake of military installations and weapons development and testing. The largest installation was created just southeast of Albion. Dubbed "Majeski Air Force Base" after its initial commander, Ekene Majeski, who still runs the base. Majeski Air Force Base spans a huge 2100 km² area. That's literally the size of Florida's rocklands and is almost nine times bigger than Earth's largest military base. Majeski Air Force Base is mostly what its name implies, but some of the land is designated for weapons testing, mostly having to do with bombs and missiles. It is one of five airbases on New Exford capable of PRAV operation and houses the majority of RAVEN's Exfordian airforce. The only reason it is so vast is because of the need for long runways. A small section is also a dedicated spaceport, with just enough transports to carry the RAF to a different planet. 80 miles north is the Okello Armor Base, a 400km² outpost filled with factories, tanks, and mechs. Both of these were subject to an assault by the Hunter's Trade Union in the past, and although it was easily repelled, it is still a major target if anyone were to invade Albion. A few RAVEN officers have criticized their own company for housing so many aircraft in one place, but any changes would be extremely expensive, not to mention the base is surrounded by defenses as well as state-of-the-art radar. 'Falsetto' The surprisingly advanced nation of Falsetto was created by Albion from conquered territory. Spanning across nearly 12% of the planet, Falsetto is greatly infulenced by Albion and is basically just a smaller copy. Containing six districts governed by three leaders and a single main leader, idea courtesy of Albion, Falsetto is located south of Albion and has small connections to both the Trinities and the Caliban. This country has plentiful ties with RAVEN Corps. Led by Arrajeit Malik Rosef. Very wealthy country. The main ONA headquarters lies just inside the boarders of the country in the Trinity mountains while the largest facility for manufacturing ONA hardware is also in the trinities. 'Roche' : A smaller but still large country that takes up about 5.5% of the planet. It's a little smaller than Brazil. This country is in a moderately close alliance with Albion, who has a presence in much of the country. This country is located on the northernmost polar icecap of New Exford. There are some mountains here, providing the country with materials to mine and export. Roche has a fairly small military of its own, and almost always calls on Albion for assistance in combat situations, whether it be military or police. One major city is located in this country. Roche exports very high amounts of valuable metals, such as diamonds and gold, and the country will be absolutely nothing without the these. No metals pretty much means no income in Roche. It is an oligarchy led by Prince Gordon Micalle. Roche and Albion have been growing politically farther apart ever since he took the throne. The two were once inseperable allies, but their relationship has been steadily degrading. The ONDMS does extensive work for the government here, data mining and information processing have become indespensable aspects in the country's mining industry. Under SIUNE permission, it is the only country that operates the planet's only Linear Mass Driver that is capable of sending payloads into orbit. Out of the desire to not conflict with RAVEN's current agenda, the nation also contains the ONMC High Priority Executive Command and Control Headquarters as well as a small millitary base and the O'Neil Strategic Threat Detection and Elimination Array control center. Thanks to the mining industry, the country is an area where many trace metals are mined so it is also O'Neil Armories go to region for microchip manufacturing, EMP proofing, molecular manipulation, and biomechanical engineering. 'Vinton' : An even smaller country that takes up about 8% of the planet (about the size of Russia). This country is an anarchy, and completely controlled by the Hunter's Trade Union. One major city is located in this country. It was originally controlled by Albion, but after a large war with the HTU and The Agency, the HTU gained a chunk of territory in the Cease Fire Agreement of 3502. Vinton was mostly obliterated in the war, but after 88 years of reconstruction, the country has turned legit and is recognized by Albion and UWUC. It is the only Exford country that has no ties with RAVEN Corps. Even though the country is run by the HTU, an unspoken treaty allows the ONDMS to manage data mining for the more legitimate aspects of business, all data is confidential and handed back to HTU handlers when employees leave the facility. 'Naranjo' : A country triple the size of Germany, Naranjo is a second country created by Albion as a result of conquered lands. Naranjo, however, hasn't adopted Albion's system of districts, but is indeed let by an Arrajeit, named Amra Haslemere. Unlike Falsetto, Naranjo handles it's own policing and military assets but it still very close with Albion and RAVEN. Fairly wealthy country. 'Abruquah' : Although larger than Naranjo, Abruquah is not nearly as rich as Naranjo, Albion, or Falsetto. It is the poorest country on the planet, save for Kirin. The country has a sizable HTU influence within it. The unspoken HTU/ONA treaty allows the ONDMS to manage and mine data for the government here. 'Kirin' : Approximately the size of Guam, Kirin is a democratic country led by a President, not by an Arrajeit. This country has no major cities at all. It's very much like Tathis, except country sized, being built on platforms extending out from a mountain range. Should the supports of the platforms fail, a whole country will be wiped off the map. But there's no need to worry, if the supports break then a secondary gravity generator will activate, letting the whole country hover. The only reason this isn't always activated is that it takes a ton of power, power that comes from Albion, and thus the government restricted use of that power to times of crisis. Kirin is completely neutral in all and every conflict, having absolutely no army. But, it has a powerful police force armed with APCs and the country is backed by the EDF as well as multiple private military corporations. Kirin is not a major exporter or importer of any material and is considered as a whole largely unimportant in the rest of the galaxy's eyes. Because of it's supposed unimportance, the main SIUNE campus is located there as well as the ONDMS headquarters, the main cache of AI and the ONDMS Sandia network which recently took control of ONA's creation of AI constructs. The country also has the most connections to O'Neil Armories and the O'Neil Millitary Corporation, making money by siphoning money off of corporate incomes and in return, providing extensive services for the corporations. One such service is the dedicated military airfield that is the only place on New Exford which possesses the ability to operate Negotiator Fighter/Bombers as well as being the only nation in the universe to actually posess said aircraft. It is the go-to place for O'Neil Armories software and Artificial Inteligence programming. : It's people possess some of the highest standards of living on the planet with an unemployment rate of almost zero and the most advanced schooling as can be provided by Scientific Institute of the University of New Exford. While not as wealthy as Albion or politically powerful, its citizens are commonly present in very powerful areas, operating up to 62% of the Troy Battlestation and the only nation with the authority to directly operate the SAPL mining laser in the absence of ONA or SIUNE. Culture New Exford hasa few different cultures,not nearly as diversified as Sigma. Every other year or so, Albion will show off its military might in parades across several cities. However, much like that other planets, there are several fun holidays, having ones similar to Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Christmas. The majority of the population, being Teroare, means that there are not very many religious sects. Food Exford's cuisine is quite varied due to the rise of races occupying the planet. But the majority of the population, being Teroare, have dominated most food markets with very spicy foods. They help negate some of the frozen feeling hard to ignore on New Exford. But there are several types above the common 'spicy' term, some foods burning straight into the soul of an unexperienced foreigner. Language Unlike Sigma, most Exfordians do not have autotranslating chips in their brains. Throughout the four nations and four main races, two distinct languages have developed. Almost everyone speaks one language, being pretty much a combination of the four racial languages plus accents. However, a small amount of people speak a seperate language, most of these people living in the pretty unimportant country of Kirin. The accented and merged language of the other people can partially be understood by other languages. Technology Exfordian cities have a wide range of technology, ranging from the ultramodern Atreus City to the ghetto-like-22nd-centruy-tech town of Circe. Most of the planet, however, is much more advanced than the other planets excluding Sigma. Due to the common state of warfare that used to happen between Albion, Roche, and Vinton, most cities not only have reinforced assault shelters, but many buildings have readily available gun posts to ward off HTU attacks, and there are even the occasional turret or gun emplacements stationed on streetcorners or on top of buildings. The buildings are also specially constructed to survive heavy weapons fire such as artillery and explosives. For now, New Exford is at peace with itself. Sports Predictably, hockey and games similar to it are extremely popular on New Exford, along with other non-ice games, which are played in biodomes. These games are similar to football, soccer, and basketball, along with unique games like gravball. There are also bloody and violent games which pit two people in a fight to the death. People, not robots. This 'sport' of fighting to the death is not illegal. Architecture Exford's architecture changes upon location, usually depicting one race's architecture around the race's origin upon discovery of the planet. Buildings have a wide variety of shapes and sizes, some being huge skyscrapers, some being tall and thin, others short and fat. Some buildings feature oversized roofs supported by large stone, steel, or even ice columns. It's very popular to have engravings etched into the structures. Most of the windows, large and small, are tinted because the bright sunlight becomes amplified when reflecting off the white, snow-covered ground. Category:Space Category:Space